And hard-up students have long slapped them between slices of bread as a cheap and tasty treat.

Now the fish finger is being given a make-over - and will tomorrow go on sale at Tesco as a £2 sandwich, complete with lettuce and ketchup, to be eaten cold.

The move comes as fish finger sales soar - with sales up from £584million to £610million in the past year as the recession eats into family budgets. Tesco product developer Laura Fagan, 28, who came up with the idea, said: "The inspiration for the sandwich came from my own student days - it really was survival food back then.

"I realised that every now and then I was getting a hankering for one - and guessed I wasn't alone. Nothing makes us feel better in difficult times than comfort food. We're thinking of developing other classic sandwiches - we'll see how well this one does."

Comment: Page 14

We eat more than a millionfish fingersevery day

Clarence Birdseye invented them in America in 1927.They came to Britain in 1955

They were almost called Battered Cod Pieces.. but the name didn't catch on